Meeting Shawn Barber at last year’s Art Tattoo Montreal convention was how I first discovered Barber’s portrait of Grime. The painting, which is part of Barber’s Tattooed Portraits series, depicts Grime in an eccentric ensemble of floral-printed shirt and striped trench coat, with signature styled hair and, surprisingly, very few tattoos. Now, this may go against a journalists’ code of objectivity and all, but the portrait instantly became my favourite one of the collection.
My interest and fascination with Grime’s work and repertoire was sparked off by following some email tag with the artist’s superstar assistant, Jeremy – and followed through to its logical conclusion - the opportunity finally arose to talk to the ever-intriguing and talented Grime.
Catching him at the start of his day just as he was opening the studio, Grime took time to talk freely about Skull and Sword Tattoo, his art, his upcoming book, “Iron Will” and to reveal the proud owner of the beautiful piece of art that so mesmerizes yours truly.
“To tell you the truth, I don’t remember exactly when it became Skull and Sword,” says Grime, easing into interview mode. “It’s been at least two years, probably more like three, Marcus [Pacheco] was here when we were doing Primal Urge and he wanted to have a private studio, so when he left I changed the name to Skull and Sword.”
Tattooing for 17 years now, Grime first made the move to San Francisco from his native Colorado in 1996, strictly to pursue his passion. “In my opinion, San Francisco was the most progressive tattoo city in the whole world and I wanted to be part of that, I wanted to experience and learn from them.” recounts Grime.
Involved with a variety of shops throughout the years, it seems Grime finally struck tattoo gold with Skull and Sword. Talented guest artists aside, the studio’s three permanent artists, in addition to Grime, help elevate Skull and Sword to a level of artistry well above most shops. Yutaro Sakai, Henry Lewis and Lango, who joined forces with Grime in that order, are the distinct and masterful artists at the shop’s core.
“We really like the dynamic here. We don’t have a lot of attitude, we help each other a lot with our drawings, and I think that’s what makes our shop fairly unique,” says Grime of the shop’s energy and interactions.
“When each of us visits another shop - it’s really interesting, we always come back and we always remark about how unique our shop is,” adds Grime. “We add constructive criticism before and after the work has started, and I think that really sets our shop apart. And I think we’re really lucky to have that.”
But even with a portfolio as strong as this, it seems the greatest criticisms on Grime’s work stem from within himself. “I’m hyper-critical,” he admits. “I think in the past, I would say, 99 per cent of my work I didn’t like at all. Now, I’m a little less critical of my work, and work in general, because I just see it looser - and some things I figure, you know, that’s fine for now, or that’s as good as you’re gonna do for the moment.”
However, where most would consider a critical eye a curse, Grime focuses on its upside; “I think I’m fortunate to have that because it’s really pushed my work and it’s helped these guys see things, and it’s helped me understand when other people are discussing my own work, or other people’s work, so I think it really aids in our ability to look at design and to determine subtle things like, you know, move this and change that because it’s going to have a different look, and it will make your eye move across the piece.”
Wise words that, in all honesty, made me question my own receptiveness to criticism, and I soon found out that they had been passed on from another standout artist: “Marcus [Pacheco] taught me a ton about tattooing and he was, by far, the biggest influence I have in tattooing. He really has a great eye and understanding of a lot of things - he opened my eyes to those things and helped me understand them myself.”
Having no formal training and getting his start in what we can call public, non-commissioned art (i.e. graffiti), Grime admits being unsure of the primal root of his passion for tattoos. “I’d wanted to tattoo professionally since I was 14, even though it wasn’t a burning desire per se, but it was something that was in my head. I had mentioned it to friends and thought about it, so it was definitely something that was on my radar. But I didn’t portray myself like ‘Oh, I’m going to be this thing’, or ‘I’m going to do this when I get older.’ I was young, I was stuck in the moment and I didn’t know what I was going to do but it kept pursuing me, so it came to the point where I had to do it.”
Following his first ever job, “a graffiti piece on a friends calf,” tattoos soon become the art that overpowered all. “I do other things, but tattooing is by far the thing I do the most and it’s the medium that I’m most comfortable with. I know how to get my desired effects with tattooing easier than I even know how to with a pencil or a paint or anything else.”
Even so, the most surprising aspect still remains “how hard it is,” says Grime. “The difficulty of making really good tattoos is pretty staggering. I’ve been tattooing 17 years and it’s still really hard to do even a decent tattoo. A really, really good tattoo is really fucking hard. And that’s what amazes me about people who think that they’re good, it just blows my mind.”
From this modesty comes a truly standout point about Grime; you can trust him. Trust him to be honest and to deliver. “There’s some stuff I don’t do,” he says. “My number one goal in tattooing is to make really strong tattoos, so if it’s something that I feel is like, ‘Man, I don’t know how to get that to even be a decent tattoo,’ I’ll just turn it down.”
Over the years, Grime has been involved in some noteworthy book projects and his latest, “Iron Will,” is slated for release in late October. The book will feature the artist’s work from the past eight years, interspersed with personal musings and other Grime touches. “Iron Will” is sure to be a success, even if the author may be, no surprise here, self-critical; “I’m pretty happy with it. There’s things I’d like to fix, but it’s one of those things too where you have to pick your battles and know when to just let it go.”
Just don’t expect Grime to get all author-y and come out with a full-blown book tour. “I don’t know exactly what I’m gonna do with the book,” he admits. “It took a lot of energy to do it and now that I’m done, I kind of don’t feel like thinking about it for minute.” Besides, there’s the blatantly obvious downside; “One kind of problem of touring with books is that books are really heavy!”
This upcoming year may see Grime take in some conventions, including a potential stop in Barcelona in 2011, but the best way to get a Grime tattoo is to get your ass down to Skull and Sword. Then again, a convention queue may be more promising; “There’s a two year waiting list, so if you wanna get in earlier than that, you’re going to have to call the shop and do some finagling, I guess!”
Considering my suggestion of paying one’s way to the top of the list drew a big laugh, you can omit that approach.
Reaching the end of our interview, I ask Grime to describe everyone in the shop, including himself, in one word. After a few minutes of mulling over the idea, Yutaro scores “Warrior,” Henry gets “A.D.D.” and following a sad realization that “Brazilian Panda” is two words, Lango is summed up as “NWOBHN.” As for Grime, with some helpful input from Jeremy and Lango, we arrive at “Magic.”
Which just leaves the pressing question about the painting that sparked my reverence for Grime in the first place. “You know who owns it? Aaron Cain. Strange, right?” Even more bizarre, the purchase was unbeknownst to Grime: “I was at his house and I was like ‘What the hell? Why do you have this? It’s so weird that you wanna have this!’ It’s hanging in the kitchen, but his kitchen is really connected to his living room - and it’s a fairly big painting. I’d say it’s a good three and a half feet tall, and with the frame it’s probably a little bigger.” But at least “it’s not like, above the fireplace,” laughs Grime.
Meet Grime's Team
Lango:
Grime’s take: "I actually tattooed him at Primal Urge in 1997 or ‘98, and he’d kind of been in and out of San Francisco visiting and getting tattooed by myself, or by acquaintances and friends of mine, so we always had a rapport. After he had moved here, an opportunity became available and he really wanted to work here - the guys agreed that we should hire him, and that’s turned out really well."
About Lango: A native of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Lango is a self-taught artist who first became involved with tattooing around the age of 18. “I got into it because I was always drawing kind of weird stuff, crazy stuff and my friends encouraged me to start tattooing because a few of them were tattooers. They noticed that I had the ability to draw, but I really hadn’t had any direction, as far as where I was going to use my artwork, so they encouraged me to start tattooing.”
First tattoo done: A tribal piece on himself. “I knew tribal would be something that, if it looked horrible, I could practice inside the tribal area,” admits Lango.
Biggest challenge: “With time you get more knowledge and experience, so it gets a little easier, but when you think that you’ve figured something out, there’s another thousand things that you still haven’t.”
Working for Grime: “He’s an amazing boss. He’s right in front of me, so I’ve got to say something nice,” jokes Lango. “Nah, he isactually an amazing boss; a very fair person. I never had a better job.”
Henry Lewis:
Grime’s take: "Phil Holt used to work here, when we first opened the shop in this location, and when he was leaving and moving back to Florida, he was talking to Henry. And Henry had told him, ‘Oh, I really wanna work there,’ so I talked to him about that and we talked about stuff, and I was excited to have Henry. I had tattooed him as well, quite some time ago. I actually tattooed all three of them at Tattoo City when I worked with Ed. It just seemed like a really good fit and he was excited about doing it, so it made a lot of sense.
About Henry: Both a talented painter and tattoo artist, Henry Lewis’s time management skills are something to be in awe of. Grime’s one-word description of Lewis, “A.D.D.,” may in fact not be that far of a stretch, but man is he ever good. A native of Los Angeles, Lewis made the move out to San Francisco to grow and perfect both his painting and tattooing.
Yutaro Sakai:
Grime’s take: Yutaro started working with me earlier, when we still had Art Work Rebels at a different location here in the city. Jason Kundell and I were partners at Art Work Rebels, we opened it together, and when he moved to Spain indefinitely, I had to restructure the shop ‘cause I didn’t have a partner anymore. So I took on Yutaro as my co-worker. I had tattooed him some years prior, and he just really wanted the job. He’s a really great person and a good tattooist, so I figured it was a good match.
The Book
Iron Will
Self-published
384 pages
In Grime’s own words...
What to expect: "You can expect to see a shitload of tattoos that I’ve done; it covers the last eight years of my tattoo career. It also has my journal writings, personal thoughts and photos of art but it’s mostly focused on my tattoo work, as opposed to my first book, Two Year Autopsy, which I didn’t want to be dominated by tattoos at the time, because I didn’t want myself to be defined as just, ‘Tattoo Guy.’"
Why it’s worth picking up: "I protected a lot of my tattoos for a long time; I didn’t show a lot of my favorite work, I was real selective with what I gave magazines and put on the internet, but I put it all in the book."
Format: "It’s gonna come in a slip case and in the slip case there’s also going to be a softback, edited version of Two Year Autopsy. It’s a pretty inclusive little volume of me over the last decade."
Where to buy it: www.GrimeMonster.com and in-person at Skull and Sword.
